Unwanted
by Mouko
Summary: ...He acts nice now, but as a child, my brother was a terror. A devil.


A little known fact about Jade Balfour was that he enjoyed sleeping in on days when there was no school. This was in sharp contrast to the rumor that he never slept at all. The reason people believed such an outlandish idea was because he would often be spotted walking around outside in the dead of night, though briefly, as he went to and from the forest. The villagers commented that these times made him seem like a phantom or a foreboding omen, especially when he was seen dragging back something freshly killed. He always found such opinions as superstitious nonsense of course. After all it wasn't as if he was the only one in the village who hunted for monsters or wild animals. Perhaps it was the absence of sunlight or his young age that changed his hunting from a commonplace occurrence to something somehow disturbing.

Then again, it seemed as though everything Jade Balfour did was somehow disturbing.

Jade chose to hunt at night for a number of reasons, and none of those reasons involved going out of his way to scare the villagers. Admittedly their opinions were a minor reason for his decision, as he found it annoying to be stared at by the multitude of people milling about during the day. Seeing a child drag a fresh corpse or two back home was more than enough fodder for town gossip, especially when that child was him. Anything involving him somehow became far more sinister to the people of Keterburg, even if they had virtually no evidence to back up the wild rumors they spread about him.

A greater reason for Jade to hunt at night than avoiding having to listen to the townspeople prattle on with so-called whispers was that far more interesting creatures came out at night. The animals and monsters that were out during the day could be found and killed easily while resting, while the nocturnal ones, which were more difficult to find during the day, were out looking for a snack. Simply being a child wandering alone in the woods was a tempting enough bait to draw out the more aggressive ones that didn't realize he was far more dangerous than anything lurking in those woods.

However, the main reason Jade preferred to hunt by night was the simple fact that he didn't want to be bothered or have to be held accountable for someone else. If he tried to leave during the day or even too early in the evening, chances were fairly good that Nephry would notice and attempt to follow him despite the danger. After the first two times this happened he made it a habit to always make sure his younger sister was sound asleep before he went out to hunt.

Between the nightly excursions, mornings devoted to school and gaining more information from Professor Nebilim, his private experiments, his obligations as an older brother to Nephry, and his lengthy discussions with the only other genius in Keterburg, Saphir, Jade got very little sleep during the week. He understood that as a growing young man he required a good deal of sleep for his development, but his thirst for knowledge was simply too pressing for him to allow opportunities to go to waste. Despite this, even he indulged himself some extra time in bed to catch up on his sleep on days already designated for rest.

This was why Jade was in a rather foul mood when he was roused from his slumber prematurely on such a day.

The reason for his rude awakening was a series of taps at random intervals on his window. Judging from the sound, and by the fact that his bedroom was on the second floor, Jade quickly deduced that small pebbles were being thrown at the glass in order to get his attention without bothering his parents. The bright light that leaked into the room around the curtains also indicated that though it was well past dawn, it was certainly not close to noon yet.

At first Jade attempted to ignore the noise, but unfortunately the perpetrator seemed to have no intention of stopping. Likewise he couldn't simply go back to sleep, as he was a notoriously light sleeper. Given the fact that nearly the entire population of Keterburg was too intimidated of him to dare risk his wrath by seeking him out without the support of an angry mob, it was easy for him to hypothesize who the culprit behind this relentless disturbance was. It could only be the one person outside of his immediate family who persisted in gaining his attention in the most annoying ways possible.

Saphir huffed slightly as he scuffled around outside Jade's room, searching for more pebbles to throw. The Balfour boy was so difficult to wake up, and the sun had been up for hours! If Jade slept any longer, it would be noon and half the day gone!

The young Neis boy was not going to let that happen!

With a grunt, Saphir tossed another pebble at the window. It was at that moment that the curtains abruptly parted open to reveal a rather irritable looking Jade. His piercing red eyes briefly focused on the pebble as it hit the glass before quickly scanning the yard until they settled upon Saphir, fixing the white haired boy with an annoyed glare.

Saphir beamed brightly and waved his hands at Jade. "Jaaaaade! Good morning!"

Jade's response to such a warm greeting was to close the curtains in one brisk motion.

"Ah?" Saphir blinked, clearly taken back.

Jade didn't bother to peek around the curtains to see what Saphir's reaction was to such a rude action. Instead he simply returned to his bed and buried his head under the covers. Hopefully the fontech genius had finally gotten the message that he wasn't in the mood to do anything but sleep right now and would leave him alone until he felt like getting up later.

All too quickly Jade slipped back into a comfortable light doze. Unfortunately it was only for a brief amount of time, as the sound of his bedroom door opening was enough to once again rouse him from his slumber. Like before he tried to ignore the sound that had awakened him and attempted to continue sleeping, even though he knew that the person who dared enter his room would undoubtedly refuse to allow it. Nephry didn't care much for his habit of sleeping in late on days off from school either.

However, it wasn't Nephry.

"Jaaaaade...," Saphir whispered as he crouched by the other boy's head. "Jade, are you asleep?"

Briefly Jade considered answering, 'yes', but thought better of it. He felt his irritation grow at how stubborn Saphir was being about depriving him of sleep. He couldn't help but wonder if his parents failed to inform the other genius that he disliked being disturbed when sleeping or if Saphir simply ignored their warnings. There was also a chance that Nephry convinced Saphir that it was alright.

"Jade, you shouldn't sleep so late!" Saphir pointed out, frowning. "You'll turn into an owl!"

Jade resisted the urge to make some sort of retort or to bury his head beneath the pillow to muffle the sound of Saphir's voice. His options now were to continue to feign as if he were still asleep, which was easy to do with the blankets over his head, or to tell the other boy quite plainly to leave him alone. Curiosity as to how long Saphir would persist in trying to rouse him warred with irritation and the desire to be left alone. Ultimately curiosity won for the moment, as it most often did.

"Jaaaade, did you hear me?" Saphir moved closer, eyes very wide. "Jade?"

As much amusement Jade might have been able to partake in by indulging in his curiosity longer, he simply grew to be too annoyed to want to continue the charade. There was also the fact that by being fully awake he was made aware of his body's needs. Those urges made it very apparent that there was little chance that he would be able to go back to sleep any time soon even if Saphir were to give up and leave now.

Saphir clearly had no intention of giving up, however. He leaned even closer so that his face was a scant few inches away from Jade's, with only the blanket separating them. Slowly, he reached out to poke Jade. "Jade?"

No sooner had Saphir touched the blanket than his wrist was suddenly snatched by Jade's hand. The white haired boy let out a startled squeak as he fell backwards after jerking free from the grip, landing right on his rump. "WAAAH-!"

"Was there something you wanted that couldn't wait until later, Saphir?" Jade asked with an underlining hint of displeasure in his voice at being so inconvenienced, as he pulled back the covers and sat up. He at least felt some amount of satisfaction at how much he managed to scare Saphir after how annoying the violet-eyed boy had been, though he kept his expression as impassive as always.

"I... it's morning, Jade!" Saphir replied as he quickly got to his feet. "You can't sleep all morning!"

"Why not?" Jade asked simply. It was his choice what he did on his day off after all.

"B... because you sleep at _night_, silly!" Saphir replied, clearly baffled that Jade even needed to _ask_.

That answer was not one that Jade was willing to accept so easily, particularly because of how simple-minded it sounded. It was all the more frustrating simply by the fact that the white haired boy seemed to think that was a perfectly legitimate excuse for disrupting his sleep so. He allowed his expression to deadpan as he gazed at Saphir through half-lidded red eyes, deciding that the Neis boy's answer wasn't worth any sort of verbal retort.

Saphir blinked slowly before frowning once it became obvious the Balfour boy wasn't rousing like he should. "Jaaaaade, c'mon! Get up! Let's go play outside!"

"Play with that robot of yours," Jade suggested in a somewhat clipped tone even as he got out of bed and stretched his tired muscles. He may have had little recourse other than to get up and take care of his body's needs, but he certainly felt no inclination to indulge the self-indulgent whims of the so-called genius who robbed him of much needed sleep.

"I don't want to play with Tarlow II!" Saphir's frown turned in to a pout. "I want to play with _you_!"

Jade felt no inclination to indulge Saphir's immature behavior any longer and so he simply left the room without a word. The issue simply wasn't worth arguing over any more, and he had far more pressing matters to attend to.

"W-wait!" Saphir yelped and hurried after the other genius, feeling panicked at being left behind. "Jade! Jade, wait for me!"

Jade pointedly ignored Saphir as he strode down the hallway. He couldn't understand how the only other true genius he had ever met, with all of Saphir's apparent intellect that shockingly even rivaled his own, could be so overly excitable about every little thing. It was almost as if Saphir could selectively turn his brain off at will.

"Jade! Jade!" Saphir hurried after the other boy. "I want to come too!"

"No way," Jade answered curtly before coming to a halt. Without even looking back at Saphir he opened the door he stopped in front of.

Saphir was about to protest, his face twisting unhappily, but was promptly cut off when Jade turned on the lights to the bathroom.

"I would rather not use the toilet with you watching me, Saphir," Jade explained as he looked at Saphir with that same deadpan expression he had used earlier.

Saphir's eyes nearly bulged out of his face as he stared at Jade. His face turned several shades of red as he gaped at the other genius before quickly turning and rushing away from the bathroom with an incoherent squeak.

Jade couldn't help the slight wry grin that appeared on his face as he watched Saphir flee in embarrassment. At least there was one positive thing about the Neis boy's childish personality. Saphir was rather fun to tease.

* * *

There was something moderately vexing about being convinced to do the exact opposite of what one was originally determined to do, Jade noted to himself silently. When Saphir had awakened him so rudely that morning, he had planned to go back to sleep shortly after breakfast and ignore the other boy for the rest of the day. Unfortunately not only did Saphir refuse to permit him further respite, but Nephry insisted that the three of them should all play together as well.

Despite how Jade would have preferred to catch up on his sleep rather than play pointless games, he knew he was no match for the combined efforts of his sister and his friend. It was annoying how Nephry and Saphir together could somehow override his desires with simple requests and pleas without much elaboration or intelligent debate to support these whims. Yet for some reason he couldn't bring himself to feel genuinely angry at them or fight too hard against their wish to play.

This was why the three of them were outside playing hide and go seek. Jade was 'it' at the start, as usual. This was because usually the game would often time go stagnant when he hid, for it was almost impossible to find him when he didn't want to be found.

After counting to one-thousand, Jade began his search at a leisurely stroll with his hands tucked into his pockets. He felt no need to run around and waste energy needlessly while searching. If time were of the essence he would hurry his pace, but for a simple game he could go at his leisure, particularly when he still felt fatigued from lack of sleep, even if he didn't outwardly appear to be particularly tired.

"Watch out! There goes the devil child!"

It was supposedly a whisper not meant for Jade to hear, but the person who spoke - a teenaged boy in a small group that included three other teens - was far too loud when trying to give such a hasty warning. When they saw him looking their way they quickly pretended to look elsewhere, anywhere but at him.

The term 'devil child' was such a commonly used term when referring to Jade that he didn't really care that he had overheard it. Initially the name had confused and frustrated him to some extent, but over time it simply grew tedious and unimaginative. He felt that if they were going to use derogatory names when addressing him they could at least introduce a little bit of variety to their name-calling or pick a moniker that actually suited him. It wasn't as though he had actually done anything remotely close to committing blasphemy and he was hardly going around convincing or deceiving people into committing sin as devils in religious mythology did.

But the oldest Balfour child had long since deduced that the title was simply one chosen out of ignorance and fear. Regardless of how people seemed to regard it as some sort of supreme insult, the fact that it was an inaccurate description of him, coupled with their persistence in overusing that insult, glossed over its use as a demeaning term. For all the value it had now, they might as well have used the name he was given at birth. As far as the people of Keterburg were concerned the name Jade Balfour was virtually synonymous with the title devil child anyway.

"Do you think he heard us?"

"The devil child? Who knows?"

"Geeze, that brat gives me the creeps!"

"I wish they would just hurry up and run that devil child outta town already."

The stupidity of the group of teenagers supposedly trying to have a secretive conversation without Jade realizing it was enough to make him almost inclined to roll his eyes for the sheer depth of it. He couldn't help but think that if they truly wanted to avoid the risk of him accidentally overhearing their insults they should have at least waited until he was well out of earshot rather than passing by less than two meters away from them. Their attempts at whispering were a joke. They might as well have told him to his face what they thought. It would have at least been less cowardly.

"The only reason they don't is 'cuz he's a genius makes this place look good."

"That's a retarded reason."

"It'd be no big loss anyway. We've already got that other genius kid living here now."

"Heh, yeah, and he's too big a creampuff to think of killin' anybody."

"I heard that Neis kid ran around screaming like he was on fire when a spider dropped down on his head one time."

An uproarious bout of laughter broke out from within the group.

"You're kidding! A genius freaking out over a tiny _spider?_"

"Yeah, and not even a monster or baby monster spider either: one of the dinky ordinary ones."

Again the teens laughed loudly and obnoxiously.

"No way that kid's gonna slice out anyone's guts and serve 'em for breakfast."

"Or make anyone's head explode."

"Or blow up a whole school with one big fireball."

"Or make some sorta undead zombie monster from all the dead body parts from all the dead bodies he's always draggin' 'round."

"Ya know it'd be great if the town woke up an' replaced the devil child with that wimp. That way we still got a genius and he won't gut us in our sleep!"

"Yeah, that'd be great!"

"Hey, seriously, maybe we should bring it up to our folks or somethin'."

"Yeah, really, who knows when the devil child's gonna start dragging around peoples' corpses next."

"Hey, I think he already has. I heard he's started digging up bodies from the cemetery."

"Gross."

"Hey, think he's into neco... naco... corpse-philia-whasis?"

"Gross! Don't even joke like that."

"Yeah, you might make that Neis kid jealous."

"Or give 'im ideas!"

As the boys started laughing for whatever reason, Jade wondered if they would still find their conversation and suggestions so amusing _they_ were the ones on fire, as one of the teenagers so helpfully suggested. A minor use of the fifth fonon and _they_ would be the ones running around screaming.

Ultimately Jade decided against such action. It wasn't as if the teens were saying anything he hadn't heard before after all - though the part about being replaced by Saphir was a fairly recent twist. Not only was petty revenge on a random impulse - especially as a reaction to being slighted in a minor fashion - recklessly self-indulgent and an unhealthy aspiration, but it would create more problems for him later as well. As things stood now no one made a move against him due to fear and lack of evidence that he had actually done anything wrong. Despite the rumors going around about him, he was never actually found guilty of anything that would be considered remotely criminal.

After all when indulging in childish things like revenge, Jade knew that one had to always be prepared for the repercussions of such actions. Like anything else irresponsible and self-indulgent he occasionally took part in in, he did it at his own pace, and savored the results.

Jade always found revenge so much more enjoyable when no one could actually prove that he was the actual culprit behind it.

* * *

It was rather disappointing how easy it was for Jade to find Saphir's hiding place. The white haired boy had covered his tracks well, and had even somehow managed to hide up a tree without leaving an obvious sign of his presence, such as piles of snow shaken from the tree's branches. Unfortunately such efforts ultimately became moot when a carefully crafted hiding place was exposed by such an unusual sight as a short, squealing robot.

"Master, master!" the robot cried out, waving its tiny hands. "Master, come down! I want to hide too!"

"Shut up, Tarlow II!" Saphir hissed, trying not to give away his hiding spot. "You're ruining everything!"

"B-b-but... but I want to hide too!" Tarlow II whined.

Jade saw this as a good enough opportunity to flush Saphir out of hiding as anything else. Silently he strolled over to the diminutive robot and tapped the top of its flat head. "Tag," he said simply.

"Ack?" The robot blinked and looked up at Jade. "..._Ah_! I've been tagged! I'm 'it'!"

"Huh?" Saphir peeked out, blinking.

"Have fun, Saphir," Jade said as he looked up at Saphir with a slight smile of satisfaction on his face. He then tucked his hands back into his pockets, turned, and walked away.

"Master, master!" Tarlow II flailed about. "Master, come down the tree! I'm it!"

"What!? No! You'll tag me!" Saphir protested.

"I want to tag you, Master!" Tarlow II whined.

"That's not fair!" the Neis genius protested, then pouted after Jade. "Jade! Jade, wait!"

Jade felt no inclination to do as Saphir requested, or even so much as look back at the other boy. The situation was simply too amusing as things stood. In a way it paid Saphir back for robbing him of sleep earlier. Not to mention it made his job of being 'it' that much simpler. Now he had the option of continuing the game, going back home to take a nap, or simply settling someplace a short distance away to watch Saphir flounder until he got bored of such means of entertainment.

"Wait! Jade! _Jaaaaaade_!" Saphir's cries grew increasingly quiet the further away Jade went, before going silent entirely.

Ultimately Jade decided that before doing anything else he should find Nephry and then consider whether to simply declare the game over or watch to see how long it would take Saphir to think of a way out of that dilemma. He supposed that he likely would be coming back to the tree with Nephry before Saphir realized that since Tarlow II wasn't actually playing the game with them when they started the robot was technically ineligible to be tagged 'it'. After that Saphir would likely throw a tantrum and either return home or demand that they do something indoors in order to warm up after spending a good amount of time up a tree in the cold.

"Come quick, I need help!"

"What happened? Did someone get hurt?"

A short distance away Jade noticed a middle-aged woman rush over to a slightly older woman, looking rather panicked. The first woman was in such an apparent rush that she had spilled some groceries from the bags she was carrying.

"No, but the devil child's struck again! He trapped that sweet little Neis boy up a tree! The devil child did something to his cute little robot and now he's being terrorized and can't get down!

"How awful!"

"I'm afraid that robot might hurt the Neis boy! He's screaming and seemed so scared!"

"I'll go get my husband!"

Jade impassively watched the two women hurry off. He knew that neither of them had seen him standing there. He also knew that they had completely misunderstood the situation. This too was nothing new, as by and large the people of Keterburg tended to jump to conclusions when it came to the things he did. They assumed the worst until they were convinced otherwise.

Briefly Jade considered returning to where Saphir was, but he imagined that it would do no good. Even if he arrived before any adults attempted to intervene, they would still assume that he caused Tarlow II to go berserk. If anything his presence would only agitate the situation by giving them 'proof' of his 'wrongdoings'. It would be better if Saphir simply explained the particular circumstances of why he was crouched in a tree, screaming for Jade, with a robot flailing up at him from below.

After all it wasn't as if Saphir was in any real danger that he needed to be rescued from. Not that the adults would believe that even if Jade did stay to help and explain. Saphir would be pampered and coddled by adults worried about him and his 'suffering' at the hands of the 'devil child' even if informed to the contrary.

Hardly anyone in Keterburg really believed anything Jade had to say anyway.

* * *

As the day progressed close to noon, Jade found himself less and less inclined to continue indulging Nephry and Saphir's desire to play. The incident with Saphir getting stuck up a tree because of Tarlow II wanting to tag him had blown up into something far bigger than it truly was. Between the time when Jade had left Saphir and when the oldest Balfour child had found his younger sister, Jade had seen fourteen different people rushing off to help Saphir, and heard eight separate conversations that focused on 'the devil child' as the topic in an obviously negative light. Seven of those eight conversations were specifically about how Jade had used his evil, twisted brain to turn Tarlow II into a rampaging monster that was attempting to drag Saphir off for him so that he could vivisect the Neis boy and see how a genius' brain worked.

Jade could only speculate how difficult a time Saphir would be having convincing that many adults not to destroy Tarlow II because of such a wild rumor. He would have gone to watch the mob scene - if just because of simple curiosity rather than any sort of obligation he may have felt towards the situation - but experience gave him the wisdom to ignore that impulse. Though he was responsible to the point of placing the idea of tagging Saphir into Tarlow II's artificially intelligent brain, he was far from being guilty of what the foolish people of Keterburg deluded themselves into believing that he was capable of or inclined to do.

Jade had decided instead that it would be best for everyone involved if he quietly took Nephry back home. There he would await the representative of the mob to come at their house and fling wild accusations about him to his parents. If the timing was favorable enough then perhaps he might be able to eat some lunch before the senseless debate and subsequent lecture from his parents before he was punished in some inconsequential way.

As always upon the return of the Balfour siblings, their mother would rush to greet them. She would help Nephry get out of the excess layers of protective clothing while bombarding her daughter with questions, such as how Nephry was feeling, what they did all day, if she had been treated well, and the like. Jade rarely stuck around to listen and after he removed his outer layers of clothing he went straight to the kitchen to see what their mother had made for them.

Lunch hadn't yet been laid out ready for them, but Jade could smell the stew of assorted meat and vegetables that was simmering on the stove. He didn't wait for his mother to give him a bowl, and instead served himself using a stepstool. After that he got himself some additional items to make the meal more nutritionally balanced, which included a couple slices of whole wheat bread accompanied by a small block of cheese, with both milk and juice to drink.

It was on his way back to the dining room with his beverages that he saw his mother and Nephry enter the kitchen. He felt no inclination to say anything to either of them. He also knew that their mother would serve Nephry due to the fact that Mrs. Balfour preferred he didn't touch his sister's food or offer any sort of unwanted advice about what makes a balanced diet, so he simply left them to go eat by himself.

The door slammed noisily as the cursing of Mr. Balfour echoed from the front of the house. Jade briefly looked up from his meal in the direction of the entrance to the hallway so that he could watch his father come into view while stomping snow covered boots on the clean rug.

"Dear!" Mrs. Balfour cried, both alarmed and scandalized as she rushed out from the kitchen to greet her husband in the hallway. "What happened?"

Jade already had a good idea what happened. Chances were very good that his father heard about the incident at work or on the way home. Depending on mob mentality, his father might have already been confronted directly about it.

"Jade's been at it again," Mr. Balfour said, his tone and expression rather sullen. "He got to the Neis boy's robot somehow and had it chase him up a tree."

"That's awful!" Mrs. Balfour gasped as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. "Is that poor boy alright? The robot didn't hurt him, did it?"

"No, fortunately," Mr. Balfour sighed. "Everyone was able to chase the robot away, but the Neis boy was clearly distraught. ...I've been approached by almost everyone in the neighborhood about it."

"Not again...," Mrs. Balfour moaned as she held her head in dismay. "They're going to force us to leave town if Jade keeps terrorizing people like this."

"I don't get what's _wrong_ with that boy!" Mr. Balfour groaned, massaging his temples. "I thought it was simply because he was a genius, but... that Neis boy is a genius and the whole town loves him!"

"Little Saphir stops by fairly often to see the boy," Mrs. Balfour commented as she rested her cheek against one hand. "He's the sweetest little boy I've ever met, and Jade just acts so _awful_ to him! I can't understand it..."

"_I_ can!" Mr. Balfour growled. "It's because he's been exposed, that's what! All this time, we thought he was just being _eccentric_ - a small price to pay for genius! But Saphir comes along and shows everyone you can be a genius _without_ being a... a monster!" Jade's father let out a low grunt. "He's _choosing_ to behave like this!"

Jade wiped his mouth off on a napkin and left the table silently. He had barely eaten half of his lunch, but he found there was an unpleasantly bitter and acidic taste to the food that made it undesirable to finish. He ignored the rest of his parents' conversation as he left the dining room through the kitchen so that they wouldn't realize that he had been listening.

When passing through the kitchen Jade saw Nephry was peering into the hallway to watch the exchange between their parents. He noticed that her eyes were wide and her face pale. It always disturbed her when they discussed her older brother in such a manner, which they did quite often. Normally Jade would make his own commentary to her about how illogical their parents were acting and how unlikely it was that they would attempt to get rid of him, despite their occasional threats. This time, however, he felt no inclination to discuss the suggestion that Saphir was far preferable to a monster like him. Instead he simply left silently and took the roundabout route up to his room.

This animosity towards him was nothing new, Jade noted to himself as he walked up the stairs, still listening to the fading sound of his parents' voices echoing off the walls of the large house. The frantic pounding on the door from the mob that had come to demand answers and apologies was also nothing new, so he felt no need to rush up the steps. He did make sure to close the door and lock it once he had entered his room, however. He wasn't afraid that any of the angry villagers would invade his home; he just wanted to block out the noise of their wild accusations and his parents' frantic apologies and excuses.

Jade flopped back down onto his bed with his arms spread to his sides and stared up at the ceiling. He wanted to sleep. His body and mind were weary, he had filled his stomach adequately enough, tired himself out, and he had a fairly sizable sleep debt to repay. The distracting noises from outside his room were blocked out by the locked door and window, and the heavy curtains were drawn to block out the sunlight, leaving his room in darkness. Since being so rudely awakened that morning he had wanted nothing more than to return to his slumber, yet now that he had the opportunity sleep decided to elude him.

"Is this a symptom of stress?" Jade wondered silently as he raised his hand towards the ceiling and stared at the back of it. He found with faint surprise that his hand trembled ever so slightly even as he focused on holding it still. "Am I... upset?"

Jade ran that word around in his head and found it to be an abstract concept. It was like an odd-shaped puzzle piece set at the middle of an empty area that could have been its proper location or completely incorrect. It didn't necessarily feel wrong, but it didn't feel right either.

Certainly it stood to reason that Jade was upset. He found the situation most displeasing and held at least a minor amount of animosity towards the people who had created such a hostile environment for him to live in. Yet somehow that definition seemed oddly inadequate in this situation. Normally under such circumstances he would hardly have trouble sleeping once he put his mind to it. This indicated that if his current bout of insomnia and tremors were caused by emotion, then it must be something different than simply being upset.

"Am I sad?" Jade asked himself out loud, though his voice was a faint whisper. He knew that there was no logic to voicing his thoughts out loud. If anything it was sometimes dangerous, as his thoughts could be overheard and misinterpreted, if not outright used against him. There wasn't much benefit from wasting breath speaking what could easily be gone over in one's own mind, and yet this problem seemed to exceed the limits of even his genius intellect.

Logic of course dictated that Jade, as a young human child, should be sad given his environment. He knew that it was normal to be emotionally damaged in such a position, to feel troubled, angry, betrayed, depressed, and in general absolutely miserable, if not faintly suicidal by now. With how much fear and hatred that was directed at him by virtually everyone he knew, which included the two most important and influential people in his life, his parents, it would likely be impossible for that not to have a deep mentally scarring affect on a boy at such a vulnerable developmental age.

A normal boy in such a situation would have been overwhelmed with negative emotion, and would have likely lashed out verbally or physically any way he could or outright fled such a hostile environment by now. Yet Jade felt calm despite what logic suggested. Naturally he didn't care for the situation, but his thinking was quite clear, completely unhindered by any threat of strong emotions overwhelming his rationality and urging him to commit any rash acts without thinking. In fact he had formulated many plans in the event that relations with the mob escalated out of control, even to the point where he really was to be run out of town or directly attacked in some fashion.

So why couldn't he sleep?

"Am I angry?" Jade asked himself despite how he logically knew that it was unlikely that he would be able to answer himself in as easy and straight-forward manner as he had used to ask the question. Still, he at least had a faint grasp on this emotion and after taking a minute or two to mull it over he was able to decide to some extent how he was feeling. "I'm... annoyed."

There was some logic to the reactions of the citizens of Keterburg, Jade had to admit, even if somewhat reluctantly. He was far more intelligent than anyone else who lived there, save for possibly Saphir or Professor Nebilim, and he possessed a calm very few adults could manage to grasp. Usually this ability to detach one's direct emotional investment to various circumstances came with advanced maturity and age, or from some sort of irregularity in the brain focusing on emotion.

Jade knew that he had the latter. From what he hypothesized, he was born with a chemical imbalance in his brain that caused him to have difficulty grasping complex and even basic human emotions. This wasn't a terribly rare affliction, and some scientists theorized that one person in every hundred was born with some degree of emotional retardation. Many people lived their entire lives without ever realizing they had this sort of disability.

Then again some scientists also theorized that this sort of imbalance was most likely the root cause for creating history's greatest mass murderers.

The problem with Jade - as his parents phrased it in a rhetorical sense earlier - was that his case was especially severe, so it was blatantly obvious that his mind was unable to work the same way as everyone else. There really was something wrong with him, one that clearly prevented him from living anything remotely resembling a normal life. This was only compounded by his high IQ, both in positive and negative ways. Without much in the way of emotion to cloud his brilliant mind, he learned extremely quickly and thought things through with such clarity that very few people could come close to matching, let alone at such a young age.

Jade was not normal. He did not think things in the same way as everyone else or perceive the world in the same way they did. Thus the average person ruled by emotion couldn't understand him, and he couldn't understand them and the irrationality of their emotions. He could at least logically comprehend that the citizens of Keterburg were afraid of his lack of emotional expression, and hated him for all of the things he was able to do. The problem in his understanding them lay in that abstract thing known as emotion, which clouded their better judgment. He had no reason to be a threat to them unless they went out of their way to bother him. They obviously failed to understand this, as they seemed unable to simply ignore him and would become antagonistic if he so much looked in their direction.

It seemed that emotion would inevitably override logic for virtually every person Jade knew, if just long enough to create an annoying situation for him. Often times that emotion would result in forming another angry mob. No matter how many times he explained his actions, the circumstances, or even why his mind worked the way it was, it seemed to only barely appease those all-consuming emotions of the majority of Keterburg's citizens until the next time they raged. His words were nothing but excuses justifying a sick enjoyment of purposefully cruel actions, or so they would claim, and those mysterious emotions would run high again once he did something else to inadvertently set them off. It was a vicious, vexing cycle that repeated without end.

"Why do I need to bother explaining myself when I'm just wasting my breath?" Jade asked himself silently as he closed his eyes and used his arm to help block out the faint amount of light that peeked in through the edges of the curtains. This answer, however, came far easier than the others. "Because they demand it even if they don't believe it. They're never satisfied with it. They just want evidence to prove that their fears are right and they can get rid of the devil child once and for all."

"And replace me with Saphir."

Jade surprised himself by saying that last part out loud. He hadn't meant to, but the words slipped from his lips even as the thought had popped into his head. Unfortunately he realized that it was true. Keterburg had barely tolerated him because of his exceedingly high intelligence and publicly downplayed the devil child rumors outside of the village. Now they had a second genius, one who didn't have his emotional retardation, and in fact it seemed Saphir was his opposite in that regard. The Neis boy's emotions were far stronger than anyone else Jade had ever met before.

How was it that Saphir was on virtually equal intellectual standings with Jade without the clarity that came from removing nearly all traces of irrational emotions? With such strong emotions to cloud the mind, Saphir should have been unable to comprehend things on a level even remotely close to Jade due to how distracting and illogical they were.

Yet somehow they were equal. Saphir was the first person Jade ever regarded as an equal peer, a person the red-eyed boy could discuss his theories and experiments with while knowing that he was able to keep pace with such detailed and complex conversation. Not even Professor Nebilim, with all her wisdom and experience, possessed a mind that processed information as quickly as Jade and Saphir could. Despite Saphir's moments of acting inept when emotions ran away with him, he could still manage to be as utterly brilliant as Jade - at least when he was able to focus.

Jade couldn't help but wonder how things would have been if Saphir was as emotionally repressed as him. Without those distracting emotions clouding the Neis boy's judgment, would they be the same, or would Saphir be even more gifted than the devil child? Conversely, if Jade had a better grasp on emotions, would he still be able to concentrate enough to maintain the pace in which he and Saphir learned?

Logic seemed to suggest strongly that in such hypothetical circumstances Jade was actually the inferior one of the two geniuses of Keterburg. As uncomfortable as it was for him to admit that supposition, even if just to himself, he also knew that it wasn't the only instance where he was the inferior one. It seemed as though everyone who knew of both Saphir and him preferred the Neis boy's company without question. The only exceptions were Nephry and Professor Nebilim, though only because they expressed an unusually strong interest in him that had yet to fully understand. He supposed Saphir possibly counted as well in that regard. However, Nephry and Nebilim liked Saphir too, perhaps as much as Jade, if not more, and Saphir would obviously prefer himself over anyone else, including his so-called 'best friend'.

"So Saphir is my superior then?" Jade muttered as he lowered his arm and stared up at the ceiling with tired eyes. He wanted to sleep now more than ever. "He has the emotions everyone wants. Without them he would most likely be smarter than me. With enough time he should be able to control them and then I'll be..."

Jade didn't know what he would be. He didn't want to know what he would be when that happened. He didn't want to know how things would be in Keterburg after he was eventually forced to leave. Not even his incredible sense of curiosity was strong enough to make him want to hypothesize about the likely scenario in which he was in all important ways obsolete to everyone he ever knew, and especially those he remotely felt anything resembling affection towards.

The one thing that Jade knew was that sooner or later his home would no longer be home. It was impossible to tell exactly how long such a fragile thing as a home would last with unpredictable emotions as the defining factor. His parents feared and reviled him as much as nearly every other citizen of Keterburg, if not more so. They only permitted him room and board out of obligation towards parental duties and possibly even the will of the Score. They barely tolerated his presence around them or Nephry, and the latter was only due to their daughter's persistence.

The Balfour couple stopped caring for the monster they created a long time ago.

With a heavy sigh Jade sat up. He knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep right now. There was not much he could do but read some of the books he had borrowed from Professor Nebilim. He couldn't - or rather _wouldn't_ - leave his room until the mob left, and as such he was severely limited in what he could do to pass the time. Nearly all of his experiments required that he be outside the house and he could hardly indulge Nephry or Saphir's wishes for the three of them to play together some more. It was unlikely that the fontech genius would want to do anything with him for a while after the incident with Tarlow II anyway.

Not that Jade really felt all that inclined to play with his replacement anymore.


End file.
